Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Space Dumplins by Craig Thompson

I came by this book in the old-fashioned
way. I hadn’t heard anything about it until I was in an indy comics shop in
Manchester and there it was, out on display. I flicked and read, browsed
further down the shelf, then returned and read some more… and eventually bought
it in hardback, without knowing anything about the author or reading any of the
reviews.

Must admit, I don’t keep up much with
what’s new in Graphic novels. I grew up obsessed with Marvel comics, but so
much of what comes out nowadays seems a little grim and portentous if it’s
aimed at non-comics fans, or a bit silly, butch and warlike if it’s aimed at
readers within that rarefied world. All I’ve read that I’ve really loved – in
comics form – in recent years is the comic strip version of Adventure Time.
‘Space Dumplins’ seems to have a touch of the Adventure Time spirit about it –
the same bandy, bendy figures in bright, action-figure colours and a similar
kind of wild inventiveness and free-wheeling spontaneity and genre-aware
cleverness in the story-telling. Also, it’s just about as ludicrously silly.

Thompson’s huge, heavy, three-hundred page
novel also reminded me of the early Marvel Star Wars comics – the adventures
set straight after the first movie. The ones created by comics people massively
enthusiastic about space operas – completely unencumbered by the po-faced
reverence and canon-fever than has weighed down Star Warsy stuff ever since. In
1977 I was thrilled by six feet tall, blaster-wielding green rabbits and
worlds that were nothing but seas for space age pirate ships to plunder. I
think ‘Space Dumplins’ has that same feeling for surrealism and adventure –
with its space-faring whales and their toxic bum troubles, space-labs disguised
as giant lobsters, mad scientist chickens, loony fashion designers and a ragbag
collection of wobbly, misguided, untrustworthy and supremely lovable cast of
characters.

It’s about a little girl called Violet who
is separated from her home and parents, who must team up with two other kids –
one of them a neurotic and cowardly chicken, the other a hot-tempered bright
orange doglike sausagelike Lumpkin thing from a rubbish dump. Together they’ve
got to rescue a baby space whale to stop the universe going to hell in a welter
of glowing green shit.

It’s endless, unstoppable, touching and
hilarious. It might get a bit gooey over the daddy and mummy and baby stuff…
but it’s got enough freaks and oddbods to appease a reader like me.

And how lovely to read a Graphic Novel for once! And revel in the
beautiful details and all the jokes tucked away in the corners of frames. All
those sharply painted lines taking the place of all the endless, tedious
DESCRIPTION we get in normal novels. Just cutting to the dialogue! Cutting to
the chase! It’s like taking a glorious long weekend in outer space.